Recall against Santa Clara official is back

An effort to recall a Santa Clara councilmember is back after hitting a snag, and it’s creating political tension.

Resident David Kertes filed a recall petition against District 5 Councilmember Suds Jain Oct. 17 after receiving the needed 60 signatures. He hit a clerical error in his recall campaign with some misspellings in the paperwork, but that has since been fixed. The campaign requires about 2,056 signatures from registered voters in the district within 120 business days to be placed on a ballot. Kertes, who unsuccessfully ran against Jain last year, wants to run for the seat again if the recall succeeds.

The recall effort argues Jain has wasted millions of taxpayer dollars, used questionable ethics, ignored residents’ concerns and pushed for poor parking ideas in his roughly four and a half years on the Santa Clara City Council. It specifically questions Jain’s work on the city’s downtown revitalization and his actions during the perjury trial of former District 6 Councilmember Anthony Becker. The campaign, which Kertes expects to spend about $15,000 on, is raising questions about motivations from both sides in a city fraught with friction.

Jain said the effort likely stems from Mayor Lisa Gillmor, who endorsed Kertes last year. Jain said the campaign is a distraction from work he’s trying to get done in the city, including progress on revitalizing the downtown. In a response to the recall filed Oct. 23, Jain said he’s “always rolled up his sleeves for our neighborhood” and “fought hard for fiscal responsibility” by helping pass a business license tax that rakes in $6 million annually.

“Lisa Gillmor is very eager to get her power back,” Jain told San José Spotlight. “She is supporting people like David to challenge the will of the voters. The voters reelected me.”

Gillmor told San José Spotlight she isn’t involved in the recall campaign. She has historically voted opposite Jain and his colleagues when it comes to the city’s rocky relationship with the San Francisco 49ers. She endorsed three other candidates for council last year and landed an ally in District 6 Vice Mayor Kelly Cox.

Kertes said no one asked him to launch the campaign aside from concerned residents. He said Jain hasn’t listened to resident worries about noise from Santa Clara University students or older adults who want the senior center open later.

Kertes said he wouldn’t be influenced by other councilmembers if elected, and added Jain has a vendetta against Gillmor. He has about 25 volunteers ready to knock on doors to gather signatures.

“Where (Jain’s) bad for District 5, he’s worse for Santa Clara because he’s not looking out for what the 140,000 residents would like to have,” he told San José Spotlight.

The recall effort is dividing residents.

Mary Grizzle, who helps run resident advocacy group Reclaiming Our Downtown, said the recall is a power play. She’s worried people could start coming after Jain’s allies, Councilmembers Kevin Park and Raj Chahal next, although Kertes said he isn’t aware of other recall intentions.

Grizzle said city politics have slowed the downtown revitalization, and she’s frustrated councilmembers can’t work together.

“I’m at my wit’s end. I don’t know what’s going to happen with our city,” she told San José Spotlight. “I do know that Suds Jain has consistently stood for fiscal responsibility, good governance and smart planning. This recall effort is so wrong.”
Resident Dana Caldwell said while he doesn’t live in District 5, he supports the recall effort because Santa Clara deserves better than Jain. He’s suspicious of Jain’s actions during the Becker case, when Jain testified during the trial and Becker was found guilty of perjury.

While Caldwell recognizes Jain is just one seat on the seven-person council, he said Jain isn’t uplifting the community. He said if the recall effort doesn’t work, he wants Jain to represent residents better.

“I hope it’s an attention getter for Councilman Jain, that he needs to maybe listen to the people a little bit better and rethink his positions on some things,” Caldwell told San José Spotlight.

Contact Annalise Freimarck at [email protected] or follow @annalise_ellen on X.